INTERNATIONAL FINANCE

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INTERNATIONAL FINANCE
CHAPTER
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Objectives

• After studying this chapter, you will able to
• Explain how international trade is financed
• Describe a countrys balance of payments accounts
• Explain what determines the amount of
  international borrowing and lending
• Explain why the United States changed from being
  a lender to being a borrower in the mid-1980s
• Explain how the foreign exchange value of the
  dollar is determined
• Explain why the foreign exchange value of the
  dollar fluctuates

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• The yen (), the euro (), and the dollar () are
  the worlds three big currencies.
• Why do currency exchange rates fluctuate?
• Foreigners are buying up American assets on a big
  scale. Why?

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Financing International Trade

• When we buy something from another country, we
  use the currency of that country to make the
  transaction.
• We record international transactions in the
  balance of payments accounts.
• Balance of Payments Accounts
• A countrys balance of payments accounts records
  its international trading, borrowing and lending.

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Financing International Trade

• There are three balance of payments accounts
• Current account
• Capital account
• Official settlements account
• The current account records payments for imports
  of goods and services from abroad, receipts from
  exports of goods and services sold abroad, net
  interest paid abroad, and net transfers (such as
  foreign aid payments).
• The current accounts balance equals the sum of
  exports minus imports, net interest income and
  net transfers.

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Financing International Trade

• The capital account records foreign investment in
  the United States minus U.S. investments abroad.
  (This account also has a statistical discrepancy
  that arises from errors and omissions in
  measuring capital transactions.)
• The official settlements account records the
  change in U.S. official reserves.
• U.S. official reserves are the governments
  holdings of foreign currency.
• If U.S. official reserves increase, the official
  settlements account is negative.
• The balances of these three accounts sum to zero.

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Financing International Trade

• Figure 34.1 shows the balance of payments (as a
  percentage of GDP) over the period 1983 to 2003.

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Financing International Trade

• Borrowers and Lenders, Debtors and Creditors
• A country that is borrowing more from the rest of
  the world than it is lending to it is called a
  net borrower.
• A country that is lending more to the rest of the
  world than it is borrowing from it is called a
  net lender.
• The United States is currently a net borrower
  (but as late as the 1970s it was a net lender.)
• The total net foreign borrowing in the year 2003
  was 4 trillion, about 4 percent of the total
  value of our nations goods and services produced.

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Financing International Trade

• A debtor nation is a country that during its
  entire history has borrowed more from the rest of
  the world than it has lent to it.
• A creditor nation is a country that has invested
  more in the rest of the world than other
  countries have invested in it.
• The difference between being a borrower/lender
  nation and being a creditor/debtor nation is the
  difference between stocks and flows of financial
  capital.

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Financing International Trade

• Being a net borrower is not a problem provided
  the borrowed funds are used to finance capital
  accumulation that increases income.
• Being a net borrower is a problem if the borrowed
  funds are used to finance consumption.

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Financing International Trade

• Current Account Balance
• The current account balance (CAB) is
• CAB NX Net interest income Net transfers
• The main item in the current account balance is
  net exports (NX).
• The other two items are much smaller and dont
  fluctuate much.

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Financing International Trade

• Net Exports
• Net exports is exports of goods, X, and services
  minus imports of goods and services, M.
• Net exports are determined by the government
  budget and by private saving and investment.
• Table 34.2 in the textbook shows the
  relationships among these items and illustrates
  them using the U.S. data for 2003.

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Financing International Trade

• The government sector surplus or deficit is equal
  to net taxes, T, minus government purchases of
  goods and services G.
• The private sector surplus or deficit is saving,
  S, minus investment, I.
• Net exports is equal to the sum of private sector
  balance and government sector balance
• NX T G S I

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Financing International Trade

• Net exports for the U.S. for 2003 (506 billion)
  equals the sum of private sector balancea
  surplus of 42 billionand government sector
  balancea deficit of 548 billion.

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Financing International Trade

• The Three Sector Balances
• Figure 34.2 shows how the three balances have
  fluctuated for the United States from 1983
  through 2003.

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Financing International Trade

• The private sector balance has moved in the
  opposite direction to the government balance.
• There is not a strong relationship between net
  exports and the other two balances individually.

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Financing International Trade

• Is U.S. Borrowing for Consumption or Investment?
• U.S. borrowing from abroad finances investment.
• It is much less than private investment and
  almost equal to government investment in public
  infrastructure capital.

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The Exchange Rate

• We get foreign currency and foreigners get U.S.
  dollars in the foreign exchange marketthe market
  in which the currency of one country is exchanged
  for the currency of another.
• The price at which one currency exchanges for
  another is called a foreign exchange rate.
• Currency depreciation is the fall in the value of
  the currency in terms of another currency.
• Currency appreciation is the rise in value of the
  currency in terms of another currency.

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The Exchange Rate

• Figure 34.3 shows how the exchange rate of the
  yen and the euro for the U.S. dollar have changed
  from 1993 to 2003.
• Both currencies have fluctuated considerably
  against the U.S. dollar.

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The Exchange Rate

• The exchange rate is a price that is determined
  by demand and supply in the foreign exchange
  market.

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The Exchange Rate

• Demand in the Foreign Exchange Market
• The quantity of dollars that traders plan to buy
  in the foreign exchange market during a given
  period depends on
• The exchange rate
• Interest rates in the United States and other
  countries
• The expected future exchange rate

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The Exchange Rate

• The Law of Demand for Foreign Exchange
• The demand for dollars is a derived demand.
• People buy dollars so that they can buy U.S.-made
  goods and services or U.S. assets.
• Other things remaining the same, the higher the
  exchange rate, the smaller is the quantity of
  dollars demanded in the foreign exchange market.

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The Exchange Rate

• There are two sources of the derived demand for
  U.S. dollars
• Exports effect
• Expected profit effect
• Exports affect The larger the value of U.S.
  exports, the greater is the quantity of dollars
  demanded on the foreign exchange market.
• And the lower the exchange rate, the greater is
  the value of U.S. exports, so the greater is the
  quantity of dollars demanded.

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The Exchange Rate

• Expected profit effect For a given expected
  future U.S. dollar exchange rate, the lower the
  exchange rate, the greater is the expected profit
  from holding U.S. dollars, and the greater is the
  quantity of U.S. dollars demanded on the foreign
  exchange market.

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The Exchange Rate

• Figure 34.4 illustrates the demand curve for U.S.
  dollars.

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The Exchange Rate

• Changes in the Demand for Dollars
• A change in any influence on the quantity of
  dollars that people plan to buy, other than the
  exchange rate, brings a change in the demand for
  dollars and a shift in the demand curve for
  dollars.
• These other influences are
• Interest rates in the United States and in other
  countries
• The expected future interest rate

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The Exchange Rate

• Interest rates in the United States and in other
  countries The U.S. interest rate minus the
  foreign interest rate is called the U.S. interest
  rate differential.
• If the U.S. interest differential rises, the
  demand for U.S. dollars increases and the demand
  curve for dollars shifts rightward.
• The expected future interest rate At a given
  exchange rate, if the expected future exchange
  rate for U.S. dollars rises, the demand for U.S.
  dollars increases and the demand curve for
  dollars shifts rightward.

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The Exchange Rate

• Figure 34.5 shows how the demand curve for U.S.
  dollars shifts in response to changes in the U.S.
  interest rate differential and expectations of
  future exchange rates.

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The Exchange Rate

• Supply in the Foreign Exchange Market
• Other things remaining the same, the higher the
  exchange rate, the greater is the quantity of
  dollars supplied in the foreign exchange market.
• There are two sources of the supply of U.S.
  dollars
• Imports affect
• Expected profit effect

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The Exchange Rate

• Imports affect The larger the value of U.S.
  imports, the larger is the quantity of dollars
  supplied on the foreign exchange market.
• And the higher the exchange rate, the greater is
  the value of U.S. imports, so the greater is the
  quantity of dollars supplied.
• Expected profit effect For a given expected
  future U.S. dollar exchange rate, the lower the
  exchange rate, the greater is the expected profit
  from holding U.S. dollars, and the smaller is the
  quantity of U.S. dollars supplied on the foreign
  exchange market.

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The Exchange Rate

• Figure 34.6 illustrates the supply curve of U.S.
  dollars.

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The Exchange Rate

• Changes in the Supply of Dollars
• A change in any influence on the quantity of
  dollars that people plan to sell, other than the
  exchange rate, brings a change in the supply of
  dollars and a shift in the supply curve of
  dollars.
• These other influences are
• Interest rates in the United States and in other
  countries
• The expected future exchange rate

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The Exchange Rate

• Interest rates in the United States and in other
  countries If the U.S. interest differential
  rises, the supply for U.S. dollars decreases and
  the supply curve of dollars shifts leftward.
• The expected future exchange rate At a given
  exchange rate, if the expected future exchange
  rate for U.S. dollars rises, the supply of U.S.
  dollars decreases and the demand curve for
  dollars shifts leftward.

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The Exchange Rate

• Figure 34.7 shows how the supply curve of U.S.
  dollars shifts in response to changes in the U.S.
  interest rate differential and expectations of
  future exchange rates.

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The Exchange Rate

• Market Equilibrium
• Figure 34.8 shows how demand and supply in the
  foreign exchange market determine the exchange
  rate.

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The Exchange Rate

• If the exchange rate is too high, a surplus of
  dollars drives it down.
• If the exchange rate is too low, a shortage of
  dollars drives it up.
• The market is pulled (quickly) to the equilibrium
  exchange rate at which there is neither a
  shortage nor a surplus.

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The Exchange Rate

• Changes in the Exchange Rate
• Changes in demand and supply in the foreign
  exchange market change the exchange rate (just
  like they change the price in any market).
• If demand increases, the exchange rate rises.
• If demand decreases, the exchange rate falls.
• If supply increases, the exchange rate falls.
• If supply decreases, the exchange rate rises.

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The Exchange Rate

• The exchange rate is sometimes volatile because a
  change in the interest differential or in the
  expected future exchange rate change both demand
  and supply and in opposite directions, so they
  bring a large change in the exchange rate.

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The Exchange Rate

• Figure 34.9(a) shows that how changes in
  expectations changed the demand for U.S. dollars
  and the supply of U.S. dollars between 1999 and
  2001 and brought a rise in the U.S. dollar
  exchange rate.

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The Exchange Rate

• Figure 34.9(b) shows that how changes in
  expectations changed the demand for U.S. dollars
  and the supply of U.S. dollars between 2001 and
  2003 and brought a fall in the U.S. dollar
  exchange rate.

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The Exchange Rate

• Exchange Rate Expectations
• The exchange rate changes when it is expected to
  change.
• But expectations about the exchange rate are
  driven by deeper forces. Two of them are
• Purchasing power parity
• Interest rate parity

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The Exchange Rate

• Purchasing power parity A currency is worth the
  value of goods and services that it will buy.
• The quantity of goods and services that one unit
  of a particular currency will buy will differ
  from the quantity of goods and services that one
  unit of another currency will buy.
• When two quantities of money can buy the same
  quantity of goods and services, the situation is
  called purchasing power parity.

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The Exchange Rate

• If one U.S. dollar exchanges for 100 Japanese
  yen, then purchasing power parity is attained
  when one U.S. dollar buys the same quantity goods
  and services in the United States as 100 yen buys
  in Japan.
• If one U.S. dollar buys more goods and services
  in the United States than 100 yen buys in Japan,
  people will expect that the dollar will
  eventually appreciate.
• Similarly, if one U.S. dollar buys less goods and
  services in the United States than 100 yen buys
  in Japan, people will expect that the dollar will
  eventually depreciate.

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The Exchange Rate

• Interest rate parity A currency is worth what it
  can earn.
• The return on a currency is the interest rate on
  that currency plus the expected rate of
  appreciation over a given period.
• When the returns on two currencies are equal,
  interest rate parity prevails.
• Market forces achieve interest rate parity very
  quickly.

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The Exchange Rate

• The Fed in the Foreign Exchange Market
• The U.S. interest rate is determined by the
  demand for and supply of money.
• The Fed determines the supply of money and
  through its influence on the interest rate
  influences the exchange rate.
• The Fed can also intervene directly in the
  foreign exchange market.
• If the demand for U.S. dollars falls and the Fed
  wants to hold the exchange rate steady, it can do
  so by buying dollars in the foreign exchange
  market.

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The Exchange Rate

• If the demand for dollars increases and the Fed
  wants to hold the exchange rate steady, it can do
  so by selling dollars in the foreign exchange
  market.
• Figure 34.10 shows how the Fed can achieve a
  target exchange rate in the face of changes in
  the demand for dollars.

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THE END